China's coal mines are the world's deadliest, despite government efforts to reduce fatalities.

Most accidents are blamed on failure to follow safety rules or lack of required ventilation, fire controls and equipment.

Accidents killed 2,631 coal miners in China last year, down from 6,995 deaths in 2002, the most dangerous year on record, according to the State Administration of Coal Mine Safety.

David Faikurt, a mine safety expert and adviser to the Chinese government and coal industry, said the government had introduced regulations in an effort to help reduce the frequency of accidents.

"Every mining company, once they build a new mine, must have a risk assessment plan before they even start digging the hole," he told Al Jazeera from Beijing on Friday.

"One of the problems is that this is a bit of a desk exercise," said Faikurt.

"There is not a system in place which carries out a risk assessment on a daily basis, so that every miner, on every shift, and every supervisor, can be part of it and can be alert for the kind of situation that developed [at Wangjialing]."